FLASH BACK
Last week, we started our discourse on a dog named “Buhari”: Sad metaphor for Nigeria’s degeneracy. This week, we continue and conclude our thematic analysis on the above heading.

Many great men – scientists, mathematicians, politicians, presidents, etc. have had pets of all sorts named after them. Dogs have had a greater percentage in these naming. Dogs, have been named Ronald Reagan, Roosevelt, Nixon, Archimedes, Boole, Copernicus, Euclid, Edison, Cousteau, Einstein, etc. All of these great names have been used by pet and dog owners the world over in christening their pets. Names like these are called “Eponyms” and people name their pets based on their own values and attachments to such names. The name “Buhari” is not patented under Nigeria’s various Intellectual Property Laws and, so, cannot be appropriated by one person, family or race. A common Moslem, Hausa/Fulani name, even people of the three Etsakos in Edo State bear it. To this end, one is, therefore, left in amazement and awe as to the rationale, legal and moral justification, as pertaining the action by the Police.
The Chinese historian, Sima Qian  (145? – 90? BC)  once stated that “a multitude of evilly disposed people stir up strife, just as a crowd of mosquitoes can make a noise like thunder.”  The hullabaloo generated by the group of persons within the Ketere market, which led to this whole brouhaha may have instigated the authorities to unjustly arrest Iroko, for no morally justifiable nor legally tenable reason. The Federal Government had through its spokesperson, Shehu Garba, vehemently denounced  that it instigated the arrest, and went further to state that PMB  finds the action of  Mr. Joe Iroko  amusing, short of saying – hilarious.
In the light of the vehement denial by the Federal Government that it orchestrated the whole arrest drama, the action by the Ogun State Police Command, amounts to excessive and unnecessary display of obsequiousness and smacks of executive lawlessness for which the president as the head of the police would be held responsible if someone is not sacked for bringing such embarrassment to the government.  The reason being that assuming without conceding that the naming of the dog was actually done used perjuratively, it does not justify the charge against Iroko, as there is no provision in our laws which criminalises naming one’s dog by the name of a human – whether dead or living. The president cannot be seen through his body language, as allowing or encouraging anyone to display unsolicited zeal in order to stifle freedom of expression and opinion under the pretext of preventing breach to public peace. If anyone wants to actually prevent breach to public peace, disarming the murderous rampaging Fulani herdsmen and bringing them to justice for their countless genocidal atrocities will be a good start.
British-born U.S. psychologist, Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, “The Tipping Point” posited: “When it comes to interpreting other people’s behaviour, human beings invariably make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context. We will always reach for a ‘dispositional’ explanation for events, as opposed to a contextual explanation.” It is a known fact that Nigerians are going through probably the darkest period  in their chequered history and various kinds of innuendos will  naturally spring up to properly capture the prevailing state of the nation. This is true if we consider that when Nigerians are faced with dire situations, they have been known to invent comics to relieve their pain and lower their spiraling blood pressures. French emperor, Napoleon I (1769 – 1821), once said, “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”
Various methods have been used by different calibre of Nigerians from times immemorial, to express their displeasure and despair over the state of hunger and starvation, sweeping the country under any anti-people administration; some have written it, some cartooned it, some sing it, others pray over it, others have decided to give it a name – whatever the name is or may be.  Irrespective of the mode employed by Nigerians to ventilate their grievances, the fact remains that majority of Nigerians see the country in its present state, as dangling precariously on a precipice and are thus driven towards helplessness as a result of the hopelessness and despondency while praying that somehow, the light comes sooner rather than later to overshadow the darkness pervading the land.
The British monarch, King George V (1865 – 1936), on being told of one Mr. Wheatley’s life story (a man who lived in conditions analogous to that of present-day Nigerians), exclaimed: “Is it possible that my people live in such awful conditions?…I tell you, Mr. Wheatley, that if I had to live in conditions like that, I would be a revolutionary myself.”
The innuendo behind Iroko’s naming of his dog “Buhari” (if any), may or may not be to disparage President Buhari. Either way, the charge is not in any way justified, as he has committed no offence known to our laws. Under Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Nigeria, it is provided as follows:
“Subject as otherwise provided by this Constitution, a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty therefor is prescribed in a written law; and in this subsection, a written law refers to an Act of the National Assembly or a Law of a State, any subsidiary legislation or instrument under the provisions of a law.”
This means that a person cannot and should not be convicted of any criminal offence, which is not defined. This is encapsulated in the Latin maxim: nullum crimen sine lege. See Aoko v. Fagbemi (1961) 2 All NLR 400; & Udoku v. Onugha (1963) 2 All NLR 107; Asake v. the Nigerian Army Council & Anor.(2006) LPELR-5427(CA); Akala v. FRN(2014) LPELR-22930(CA); Agboola v. FRN (2014) LPELR-22932(CA).
Pending the time the president decides to sack someone in the  police echelon for this whole Joe Iroko’s drama and indiscretion, he should focus on mitigating the sufferings in the land  through  deliberate and reflective policies geared towards provision of basic amenities of, stabilising the freely somersaulting dollar rate, providing the enabling environment for businesses to strive, cushion the threatening unemployment rate, dissuade sectionalism, arrest and speak up against terroristic atrocities committed by in any section, segment or zone of the country, especially by his kinsmen, the Fulani herdsmen against fellow citizens (instead of displaying his now trademark taciturnity when such attack occurs), etc.  This will show Nigerians that this is a serious government or a government, which is trying to be serious. The government must  not robe itself with the garb of insensitivity, reminiscent of governments known for tyranny, absolutism and repression.
Thomas Jefferson once said that “a government is said to be democratic when it fears the people and tyrannical when the people fears it.” The later appears to be the present position in Nigeria, where an atmosphere of utmost fear and extreme uncertainty about our much cherished civil rights and liberties pervade.
This poem by William Blake (1757 – 1827), captures the cruelty faced by ordinary Nigerians:
“A dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus’d upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fibre from the Brain does tear
A Skylark wounded in the wing,
A Cherubim does cease to sing.”
Simply put, the frustration that emanates from people when they feel neglected, isolated and despondent is traceable to, and directly proportionate to the pain they receive. When the public feel neglected and isolated from government’s policies, when they sense inequality in wealth distribution, when they despair over the quality of governance, when they sense that the government of the day doesn’t take their plights seriously, they will say things, do things, write about things and probably in the instant case, name things targeted to get their voice out in ventilation of their displeasure.
The government, or Police echelon, DSS, EFCC, etc. of PMB should stop arresting citizens for exercising their right to name their property or their dog any name they desire and instead, focus on delivering good governance and fashioning out creative ways of pulling this country out of the present economic doldrums instead of needlessly burdening itself with what name a Nigerian citizen gives to his own dog

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